A modern pickup truck typically has either a six foot or an eight foot bed. In some cases, it is desirable to have a longer bed length to transport certain loads that do not fit within the bed length. There are a number of truck bed extenders known that allow a user to extend the capacity of his or her truck bed. Typically, these truck bed extenders operate by having the user fold down the tailgate on his or her truck and then providing some sort of structure that surrounds the tailgate so that the tailgate of the truck to becomes part of the cargo bed.
However, a truck tailgate is not very strong and is not designed to handle as much weight as the bed of the truck. The tailgate is typically hinged on the bottom so that it can pivot between an open position, where the tailgate lies flat so that the bed of the truck can be loaded, and a closed position, where it closes the back of the bed of the truck. When the tailgate is in the closed position, it is secured in an upright position by the hinges and latches that mate with the sides of the bed. However, when the tailgate is lying flat in the open position, it is only secured in place by the two hinges and typically a relatively thin steel cord to keep it from pivoting any further around the hinges. Because of the configuration of the tailgate, the tailgate is substantially weaker than the bed of the truck. When a load is placed on a tailgate that is in the open position, the cord and hinges are all that is supporting the load. This can create problems with bed extending structures that use the tailgate to extend the bed length.
Additionally, it has become common to carry all terrain vehicles (ATVs) and other personal recreational vehicles in the bed of trucks. These personal recreational vehicles can be quite heavy. Not only can they place substantial weight on the tailgate of a truck when the tailgate is left in an open position to support a portion of the recreational vehicle, but they can also place substantial weight on the tailgate when a ramp is used to load the vehicle into the bed of a truck. Often, a ramp is used to load these vehicles or other loads into the bed of the truck, with the ramp being positioned with one end on the lowered tailgate and the other end of the ramp on the ground. As the recreational vehicle is being driven up the ramp, the weight of the vehicle forces the ends of the ramp against the open tailgate transferring the weight of the load to the tailgate, which in turn is only supported by a thin steel cord.